The invention relates to a device designed to enable fast evacuation of passengers from an aircraft, if necessary, for example during an emergency landing.
A device conform with the invention can be used on any type of aircraft, and particularly on civil aircraft intended for passenger transport and military aircraft intended for troop transport.
Civilian passenger transport aircraft are equipped for fast evacuation of passengers if necessary, in other words particularly during an emergency landing.
It must be possible to make an emergency passenger evacuation without the use of any means external to the aircraft. When the aircraft doors are at a significant height above the ground, it is often proposed that evacuation should be made using slides.
In this case, the slides are made from flexible materials, so that they can be stored in the folded state onboard the aircraft. Inflatable side rings then apply the required shape and stiffness to the slides when they need to be used.
To enable fast use, each slide is stored in the folded state in the immediate vicinity of the exit at which it is to be used. Two different types of storage locations are used at the present time.
The most frequently used solution consists of storing the deflated and folded slide in the passenger cabin close to the exit, frequently left permanently in position against the door. An xe2x80x9carmingxe2x80x9d device fixes the slide to the door sill and triggers inflation of the slide as soon as the door is opened, if it is in the armed position. When this device is in the disarmed position, the arming device enables the door to be opened without the slide being inflated, so that passengers can get on and off under normal conditions.
Storage of slides in the passenger cabin has the disadvantage that it occupies a non-negligible space which correspondingly reduces the space available inside the passenger cabin and in some cases can hinder passengers and the crew.
Furthermore, when the slide is fitted on the door, it increases the weight of the door which makes its design and handling more complicated. Furthermore, this layout necessitates the presence of a complex disconnectable system for attachment of the slide to the exit door sill.
Another known solution consists of storing the folded slide in a housing located in an unpressurised area outside the passenger cabin. This type of housing may be located on the top of the wing so that it can be used with the emergency exits above the wing. As shown in document EP-A-0 518 461, the housing in which the folded slide is stored can also be formed under the passenger cabin, immediately below the door. This housing is rigid and airtight from the pressurised areas on the aircraft. There is an opening on the side of this housing facing the outside of the aircraft that is normally closed by a hatch enabling aerodynamic continuity of the fuselage.
This solution avoids problems due to the fact that the slide is installed on the inside of the passenger cabin. However, the slide cannot be stored in the wing if the exit is not close to the wing.
Furthermore, the installation of an unpressurised compartment in the fuselage, which is pressurised, is penalizing in terms of mass, particularly when the dimensions of the housing are large.
Furthermore, since the slide is located in an unpressurised area, it is subjected to severe pressure and temperature variations which require more preventive maintenance operations than when it is installed in a pressurised area.
The purpose of the invention is precisely a device for fast evacuation of an aircraft, with an innovative design such that the space available inside the passenger cabin is not reduced and that the disadvantages caused by installing a slide in an unpressurised area.
According to the invention, this result is obtained using a fast aircraft evacuation device comprising a structure, one wall of which separates the device from a passenger cabin in which there is at least one opening with an access door to close the said opening, the fast evacuation device comprising a housing provided in the said structure close to the door, an inflatable slide placed in the housing, a hatch closing the housing on the outside of the aircraft, means of arming-disarming the slide and means of controlling automatic opening of the hatch when the door is opened if the arming-disarming means are in the armed state, characterised in that the housing is located in a pressurised area of the aircraft outside the wall delimiting the cabin.
In particular, placement of the slide in an area external to the passenger cabin eliminates the need to reduce the space available in the passenger cabin and simplify the door. Furthermore, because the housing containing the slide is located in a pressurised area, there are no other requirements for delimiting this housing on the inside of the aircraft. Thus, this delimitation can be made by a structure that is already present in the aircraft, or preferably by a protection compartment protecting the slide against various types of aggression, for example mechanical or chemical aggression. Since it is not subjected to forces generated by pressurization of the aircraft, this compartment has a lightweight structure, even when the slide itself is very large.
To take account of the fact that the slide is housed in a pressurised area in the aircraft, the hatch is capable of resisting the pressure differences during flight between the pressurised area and the outside of the aircraft.
For the same reason, air tightness means are inserted between the hatch and an outside skin of the aircraft.
In particular, these air tightness means include an inflatable seal.
Advantageously, means of controlling automatic opening of the hatch include means of locking the hatch in the closed position and a mechanism connecting the said locking means to the door through arming-disarming means when they are in their armed state. The mechanism is then separated from the door when the arming-disarming means are in a disarmed state.
According to a first embodiment of the invention called xe2x80x9cwith reactive lockingxe2x80x9d, elastic means activate locking means in the direction to unlock the hatch, to open the hatch when the door is opened and act on the said mechanism through arming-disarming means when they are in their armed state.
Advantageously, the mechanism then comprises a rod capable of sliding along its axis and rotating about the said axis in an element of the aircraft structure, one end of the said rod acting on the locking means in opposition to the action of the elastic means. In this case, the mechanism also comprises stop means opposing sliding of the rod along its axis in the direction of the action of the elastic means when the rod is in a first angular position, and enabling the said sliding when the rod is in a second angular position. Furthermore, the arming-disarming means act on the rod to turn it about the said axis between the first angular position and the second angular position when the arming-disarming means change from their disarmed state to their armed state, and vice versa.
According to a second preferred embodiment of the invention called xe2x80x9cwith active lockingxe2x80x9d, the locking means are inserted between the hatch and an element of the aircraft structure. The mechanism then acts on the hatch to move it between a first position in which the locking means are locked and a second position in which the locking means are unlocked when the mechanism is connected to the door through arming-disarming means.
In this case, the mechanism advantageously comprises a linkage that acts on the hatch through a link that can automatically be disconnected when the hatch is in its second position.
Preferably, a return means then acts on the linkage that normally keeps the hatch in its first position.
In the second embodiment of the invention, the hatch is typically put in a xe2x80x9ccapxe2x80x9d type configuration. The hatch is provided with stops for this purpose that can come into contact with complementary stops connected to a hatch frame structure under the action of pressure differences that exist in flight between the pressurised area and outside the aircraft when the hatch is in its first position